Snap Counts: Three Offensive Linemen, Dwayne Haskins and Malik Harrison Lead Ohio State in 2018 Snaps After Playing Full Games in Rose Bowl

There weren’t any major surprises in terms of who saw the most playing time for Ohio State in the season-ending Rose Bowl against Washington on Tuesday.

Even though the Buckeyes had a month between their penultimate game – the Big Ten Championship Game against Northwestern – and Tuesday’s season finale in Pasadena, which they won by a score of 28-23, they didn’t make any drastic changes to their lineup.

Joshua Alabi filled in at left tackle and Wyatt Davis filled in at right guard for Thayer Munford and Demetrius Knox, who missed the Rose Bowl due to injuries, but otherwise, the Buckeyes’ lineups and rotation looked essentially the same as they did in the Big Ten Championship Game and during the regular season.

Dwayne Haskins and all five offensive linemen each played every offensive snap of the Rose Bowl; as a result, Haskins and the three regular starters up front who were not hurt – left guard Malcolm Pridgeon, center Michael Jordan and right tackle Isaiah Prince – finished the season as the Buckeyes’ top four players in snaps played this season, with all four well surpassing 1,000 total snaps for the year.

Linebacker Malik Harrison and safety Jordan Fuller, meanwhile, played every snap on defense in the Rose Bowl, and they in turn finished as the Buckeyes’ top two players in snaps played on that side of the ball for the season.

In total, 59 Buckeyes played in the Rose Bowl – one more than played in the Big Ten Championship, with freshman defensive end Tyler Friday and senior offensive lineman Brady Taylor being the only Buckeyes who played against Washington that did not play against Northwestern, while Munford did not play against the Huskies.

We take a look at how many snaps each of those Buckeyes played in Pasadena, followed by a look at the total snaps (in chart form) that every Buckeye played this year, in our final edition of Snap Counts for the 2018 season.

All snap counts listed were compiled by Eleven Warriors data analyst Matt Gutridge and should be considered unofficial, as Ohio State does not make its official snap counts public. It is not always possible to see all 11 players on the field from TV broadcast angles, particularly on special teams plays, so exact special teams snap counts are not included and offensive and defensive snap counts could potentially differ from those tracked by Ohio State’s coaches.

Quarterbacks

Dwayne Haskins: 72

For the eighth time in 14 games this season, Haskins played every snap of the Rose Bowl for Ohio State at quarterback. In what could be his final game as a Buckeye, Haskins completed 25 of 37 passing attempts for 251 yards and three touchdowns to earn Rose Bowl offensive player of the game honors.

Running Backs

J.K. Dobbins: 34
Mike Weber: 30
Demario McCall: 10

While Dobbins and Weber played a nearly even share of snaps in Weber’s final game as a Buckeye, McCall also played double-digit snaps for just the fourth time all year. McCall checked into the lineup primarily in third-and-long situations, sometimes lining up in the backfield and sometimes splitting out as a receiver, marking the first time all year that Ohio State regularly used a situational third-down back – and perhaps setting the stage for McCall to see even more playing time in 2019.

Wide Receivers

Ohio State stuck with its usual six-man wide receiver rotation against Washington – McLaurin and Victor at X receiver, Dixon and Olave at Z receiver and Campbell and Hill in the slot – with McLaurin, Dixon and Campbell, the Buckeyes’ three fifth-year seniors, playing the largest share of snaps.

As they did for the last two months of the season, Campbell and Hill continued to play together in four-receiver sets; in total, the Buckeyes played them together for 13 plays against the Huskies. Olave also played the highest snap count of his debut season, potentially setting him up to play a leading role in the receiving corps as a sophomore in 2019.

Terry McLaurin (83), Parris Campbell (21) and Johnnie Dixon (1) played the most snaps among wide receivers in their final game as Buckeyes.

Tight Ends

As was the case in all of Ohio State’s final seven games of the season, Farrell played the majority of snaps at tight end in the Rose Bowl, while Berry came in off the bench for his share of playing time and Ruckert also saw occasional snaps as the third tight end. Berry and Farrell were on the field simultaneously for seven two-tight end sets, while all three tight ends were on the field together for one play – a play that resulted in a touchdown pass to Berry.

With Thayer Munford sidelined by injury, Alabi made his first career start for the Buckeyes and played all 72 snaps at left tackle.

Davis, meanwhile, started his second game to conclude the season at right guard in place of Demetrius Knox, who was also sidelined by injury. Davis played every offensive snap except the final snap of the game, when fifth-year senior Brady Taylor checked into the game in his place for the ceremonial kneel down in victory formation.

Pridgeon, Jordan and Prince, meanwhile, completed the season having started every game and played every meaningful snap for the Buckeyes this year (each played 1,102 snaps for the season) at their respective positions of left guard, center and right tackle.

Defensive Ends

Young played his season- and career-high snap count in the Rose Bowl, as he played all but 15 of the Buckeyes’ 97 defensive snaps against Washington. As he did in eight of the Buckeyes’ last 10 games this season, Young played more snaps than any other defensive end against the Huskies.

Cooper also played a majority of the defensive snaps in the Rose Bowl, as he did in nine of the Buckeyes’ last 10 games, while Cornell rotated in for his second-highest snap count of the season. Smith rotated in for nine snaps at defensive end and a pair of snaps at defensive tackle, making him the only true freshman to play on either offense or defense in every game this season, while Friday rotated in for a pair of snaps late in the first quarter.

Chase Young capped off his sophomore season by playing a career-high 82 snaps in the Rose Bowl.

Defensive Tackles

Jones played his career-high for single-game snaps in his final game as a Buckeye, participating in all but 13 of the Buckeyes’ 97 defensive snaps. In addition to playing the vast majority of snaps at the 3-technique defensive tackle position in the Buckeyes’ 4-3 base defense, Jones also lined up at defensive end for 18 snaps in three-man fronts.

Landers and Hamilton led the rotation at nose tackle as they did all season, with Landers playing a season-high 43 snaps in the Rose Bowl, though Togiai also played his highest snap count since the fourth game of the season against Tulane.

Vincent played the highest snap count of his true freshman season in the Rose Bowl, playing 14 snaps as a nose tackle in the Buckeyes’ 3-3-5 defense, while also playing five snaps in place of Jones in four-man fronts. Garrett also rotated in for eight snaps at the 3-technique spot and one snap with Jones, Landers, Hamilton and Garrett all on the field together in goal-line defense.

Harrison played every one of Ohio State’s defensive snaps for the sixth game in a row to wrap up the season, playing a career-high 97 snaps in the Rose Bowl. Werner also played a career-high number of snaps against the Huskies, playing every snap at the other outside linebacker spot in the 4-3 defense while also playing a majority of the snaps in nickel packages.

Browning played his highest snap count of the Buckeyes’ final six games in the Rose Bowl, rotating in at the middle linebacker spot in the 3-3-5 defense while also seeing a few additional snaps in the 4-3 base defense and in two-linebacker nickel packages. Borland played at least 50 snaps for the fourth straight game to conclude the season, seeing occasional playing time in nickel packages while playing the majority of snaps at middle linebacker in the base defense.

Cornerbacks

Ohio State stuck with the same cornerback rotation it has used all season in the Rose Bowl, with Sheffield, Arnette and Okudah all rotating regularly at the outside cornerback spots, while Wade played the entire game at slot cornerback, checking in for more than half the Buckeyes’ defensive snaps as they utilized the nickel defense regularly.

Safeties

Jordan Fuller: 97
Brendon White: 96
Josh Proctor: Special teams only
Isaiah Pryor: Special teams only
Amir Riep: Special teams only
Jahsen Wint: Special teams only

The Buckeyes made no substitutions at safety in the Rose Bowl. Fuller played every defensive snap for the 10th time in 14 games this season, while White played every snap except for the one on which the Buckeyes deployed their goal-line defense. Both safeties played career-high snap counts in the process.

The Buckeyes made no changes to the place kicking unit they’ve been using all season in the Rose Bowl. Even with both Alabi and Davis in the starting lineup on the offensive line, both continued to take the field for extra points against Washington, as the Buckeyes did not want to break from continuity at the end of the season.

In a slight change from previous weeks, Ohio State used a three-gunner formation on several of its punts against Washington, with Pryor splitting out as a gunner on those plays, but lining up as a tackle on others – while Campbell also checked into the lineup in Pryor’s place on two punts. Otherwise, the Buckeyes used the same personnel on their punting unit as they have used in previous weeks, with Werner lining up in various alignments depending on the punting formation.

Arnette returned to the punt block/return unit in the Rose Bowl, replacing Isaiah Pryor. Otherwise, the Buckeyes used the same personnel on this unit that they used against Northwestern in the Big Ten Championship Game.